


Ship Rights

by jju_nyaa



Series: The Parallel [2]
Category: NU'EST
Genre: Alternate Universe - 18th century, Boats and Ships, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, baron!Aron, pirate!Jonghyun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25949539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jju_nyaa/pseuds/jju_nyaa
Summary: Leading a busy life with a multitude of properties in his name, Lord Kwak Aaron Youngmin, Baron of Nottsoon, has yet to figure out what to do with the sloop that he bought. Perhaps Kim Jonghyun could help determine if it is a bad purchase or not.[The Parallel - Day 02 - Period AU]
Relationships: Kim Jonghyun | JR & Aaron Kwak | Aron, Kim Jonghyun | JR/Aaron Kwak | Aron
Series: The Parallel [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886287
Comments: 12
Kudos: 12
Collections: Nu'fics x The Parallel





	Ship Rights

**Author's Note:**

> A Period AU for The Parallel Fic Fest by [nufics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nufics).
> 
> Also a companion piece and prequel of sorts to A New Wind’s Scent (from Spring Blessings Fic Fest). Hopefully it'll make sense even without having to read Winds hahaha.

**— » — « —**

It wasn’t often that Lord Kwak Aaron Youngmin, Baron of Nottsoon, could make time to visit any one of the many properties that his family owned, especially when his life in New East Port took up most of his time. He enjoyed being surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the port town — it was teeming with life and a dingy sort of luxury that not a single noble from the city would ever begin to appreciate. It was apparent in the way his family sought to elevate their status as nobles but Lord Aaron, from the very beginning, only wanted the actual wealth that came with it.

He wanted things — new things to acquire, new things to build, and new things to use and build upon his wealth even more. He wanted more wealth than he already had so that he could get new things for others who could not get new things for themselves. And he wanted others to get new things that they could use to build upon themselves — to turn their fortunes around and transform their poverty into wealth of their own.

Not many had the capability to understand this particular desire of Lord Aaron’s. Only the part that indicated the Baron of Nottsoon’s interest in many odd things were remembered by most people who did business with or performed tasks for him. At least, for the moment, that was enough for him.

It was, after all, the way that he came by with buying another ship two weeks ago — a sloop without a crew to house nor a captain to commandeer her. It was becoming rather commonplace; someone needed to sell a ship and, immediately, they would seek out the baron to see if he would be interested in it.

Lord Aaron had yet to see the whole picture of it; only a vision of how useful a sloop would be in serving his goals showed itself to him. ‘Acquire it now, ask questions later’ was something he rarely ever did and, fortunately enough, rarely did it ever turn out to be a bad purchase.

He found the answer to his query when he took his good friend Kim Jonghyun out to hunt in one of his country properties in celebration of the latter’s twenty-first birthday. Lord Aaron may not have enough time to visit Fox Hall, much less be more hands on with his management of the said property, but he certainly could make time to give his closest boyhood friends the kind of honoring they deserve.

They were closest in their birthdays, too, and this year wouldn’t be the first time the baron chose the middle day between his and Jonghyun’s birthdays to celebrate something together.

“She’s beautiful, Hyung,” Jonghyun said after they made a detour into the next port town where the sloop was still berthed and being refitted.

Lord Aaron trusted Jonghyun’s sailing experience and, just like with the previous ship he had purchased, he made sure Jonghyun could take a look at the new one and give him a _feeling_. It was not like an assessment from the older, more seasoned sailors back in New East Port (and the baron definitely consulted them for practical wisdom). Jonghyun had intuition about some things that Aaron knew he ought to listen to.

Already, the bigger picture was starting to come into view.

After getting settled in Fox Hall for the weekend, Lord Aaron had a new set of rifles taken out and, while cleaning them, he and Jonghyun talked about current town events. It nearly took them the whole morning, given how Aaron’s two wards — Noah and Soonie — kept on begging either of them to be brought along the hunt. It took a lot of tears, tantrums, and some tactfully placed bargains with Noah (the more insistent of the two) before the children agreed to wait in the house instead.

“Jonghyun-hyung, you promise you will teach me on my name day, yes?” Noah repeated for the tenth time already, clinging to his waist and making it hard for him to carry his equipment.

“Yes, Noah, I promise… but if you’re not a good boy then how can I make good my promise to you?”

Noah immediately let go and straightened up. “I’m a good boy!” he declared.

“I’m a good girl!” Soonie echoed in Aaron’s arms, giving her foster father a good luck peck on the cheek before he laughingly set her down. He then motioned for the children’s nannies to take them back inside the house.

Finally, the pair set out, flanked by the baron’s servants to handle the hounds and equipment. There was just the right amount of wind as they crossed the field behind the mansion, stopping a good distance before the woods. The dogs were then released to flush game out and the two hunters readied in their place.

The baron went first, standing in position and waiting with his gun pointed towards the line of treetops where, any moment, the birds would soon break out from.

Distant rustling sounds were carried towards them by the wind and then out came a bird or two; Lord Aaron followed one with his gun and sight. The moment he took his shot, Jonghyun raised his own gun and pointed — a mad rustling of startled birds then darted out from the trees to escape.

Lord Aaron held his breath in anticipation. A few seconds of dead calm — a shot was then fired. The baron watched as a bird hurtled downwards from the sky and a hound dashed towards the general direction of where it fell.

He found himself snickering as he shook his head. “That is no decent shot,” he scoffed, patting Jonghyun’s back. “You, my friend, are an exceptional marksman!”

Jonghyun pursed his lips, trying his best not to grin. “It does help that this rifle of yours is a beauty,” he demurred.

“It’s yours now,” Aaron said, barking a laugh. “Captain.”

“Captain?” Jonghyun frowned, confused.

“I’m giving us a gift, Jonghyun-ah,” the baron spoke as he casually reloaded his rifle for the next round, Jonghyun following suit. “The sloop, she’s yours.”

“I fail to see the part where you’re giving yourself a gift,” the sailor answered wryly. Jonghyun had long been used to Aaron’s bouts of outrageous generosity — more often than not, the sailor had skipped being surprised altogether and would go straight to figuring out how to argue his way out of receiving those favors.

“Oh, I’ll get it soon enough, once you find yourself a crew and start plundering,” Lord Aaron replied, grinning.

Jonghyun stared at him long and incredulously.

“You wish to have your own pirate ship and crew,” the sailor said, “and you want me to captain it?”

Aaron smiled incorrigibly. After all, when he learned that Jonghyun had resorted to piracy in order to get back home to New East Port, the baron had often spoken to Jonghyun in jest about buying his own pirate crew. Never, however, had he made any attempts at accomplishing such a wish until now.

“And I know you want to sail,” said Lord Aaron, a gentler expression now lining his features. “Do not think for once that I do not see you looking out at the docks with that longing on your face.”

“I would’ve joined a merchant ship had I wanted to sail so badly,” Jonghyun countered softly.

“Not if you’re searching for something in particular.”

Jonghyun looked up to Aaron to see the older man giving him a meaningful look before turning his attention back to shooting.

“I’m not only just giving you a ship, nor am I simply asking you to fulfill in my stead a boyish fantasy,” Aaron spoke as he aimed his rifle out. “I’m giving you the freedom to search for that thing that’s buried deep in your heart, Jonghyun-ah, whatever it is.”

The sailor inaudibly swallowed the choking feeling that rose up in his throat. “You can’t give me this,” Jonghyun attempted weakly. 

But Aaron was right, it was the very thing he needed. When he came home from his last failed adventure, disgraced as a felon in the eyes of the law, Jonghyun had lost hope in being able to set out once more to look for the one he lost five years ago. If he had his own vessel, his own men, and to be able to set sail on his own terms, he would have the best chance of retrieving what he hoped he could still wrestle from beyond recovery.

The baron fired and hit a second bird.

“Yes, I can. Thus, I am giving you… this,” Aaron gestured in the air around them with a small chuckle. “That gun, the ship, they’re yours. Find your men, build your crew, and get rich to the point where you can even buy Fox Hall from me.”

“I know you, Hyung, you’re not giving me all of these for free,” Jonghyun stared out and posed to shoot again.

Aaron did his best to suppress a laugh so as not to break Jonghyun’s focus. Another shot, then another bird fell. “In return,” the baron then said, confirming Jonghyun’s suspicions, “help me find something, too.”

Jonghyun managed a chuckle this time and put his gun down. “Does this mean I can work for you?”

“I was hoping you’d call this returning the favor, Jonghyun-ah,” Lord Aaron wagged a finger. “But, very well, if you want to call it a job, then so be it.”

“Hyung, if you’re already giving me the freedom to set sail under my own terms, I’d rather I give back by working for you,” Jonghyun bargained. “I’ll accept this gun, the ship, and I’ll form a crew… but only if you’ll get all the money after paying to us what’s rightfully due.”

“You don’t want to get rich?” the baron asked.

“I cannot resort to piracy for personal gain any more,” Jonghyun answered. “Once was enough.”

“And you think I could handle getting rich by unscrupulous means a lot better?” Aaron clutched dramatically at his chest in an attempt to appear offended.

“That’s not — I know you’d give it away anyway,” Jonghyun stumbled over his words. “You give to the town a lot more than they realize, can’t I do the same through you?”

“That I can understand but do you think you can find men who would accept that kind of damned reasoning?”

“Leave that problem to me, I’ll make it work.”

“It’s your ship,” Aaron shrugged, then laughed as Jonghyun rolled his eyes at him.

“Then do you accept my terms?” Jonghyun asked, undeterred.

Lord Aaron thought for a moment. “Only if you tell me what exactly is it that you’re looking for.”

Jonghyun paused and took a deep breath. As if to ignore the question, he looked back out in the open and waited for another target to appear. When it came, and he shot it cleanly out of the sky, Jonghyun then gave his answer.

“It’s a person,” he mumbled shyly. “In the plainest of words, I’m searching for my… my…”

“Your…?” Aaron prompted, an eyebrow arched prettily.

“My long-lost first love,” Jonghyun finally choked out, hanging his head in shame.

Lord Aaron’s laughter rang out in the field, and by the time he could stop, Jonghyun had shot down several more birds in his mortified attempt at drowning out what he thought was Aaron’s mockery of him.

“Ah, my dearest boy, Jonghyunnie,” the baron wheezed, blinking tears out of the corner of his eyes. “I didn't mean to laugh at you, I am truly sorry.”

Aaron then handed his rifle over to a servant and held his arms out towards the younger man. “Come on. Forgive this hyung of yours.”

Jonghyun sighed and shuffled over towards Aaron, leaning forward to rest his chin over the older man’s left shoulder. Aaron folded him into an embrace and patted his head fondly.

“I have absolutely no right to laugh, given how my request is so much more ridiculous than perhaps anything you’ve ever heard,” he mumbled in Jonghyun’s ear.

Jonghyun pulled away. “How so? What would you want me to find for you out there in the seven seas?”

“Oh, you know…” Aaron dithered. “Just a siren bride, nothing more.”

**— » the end « —**

**Author's Note:**

> I had thought about writing this for Aron Day back in May but, uhh, life and other WIPs got in the way. T^T And to think that the JRon Nucket episodes even confirmed this plot bunny for me, I have failed Winds JRon so much, I am sorry.
> 
> To my Winds beta, J, please accept my humble request for a post pub beta for this when you have the time T^T
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
